Defiant till the end...

'A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all
So paint it black and take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Defiant to the end we hear the call
To carry on...'


A non update sort of update kind of post.... whatever that means? lol.

Just sitting here in me bed in me hostel having a little think about this trip and I can't help but notice aside from a few ulcers and hangover symptoms, that I generally feel a bit healthier. At home it had almost become routine to have to take some sort of painkiller daily and because of that I brought a few packets of ibuprofen with me and I can honestly say I have taken about tablets about 3 times since I've been here and that's pretty good for me.

Also, as anyone who knows me would know how I used to sleep in fairly late ;) at home, I find myself waking up early doors and feeling pretty refreshed and not needing to stay in bed for half the day.
so generally on the health front New Zealand wins and the UK loses. :) touch wood (literally just did) that I don't get seriously Ill now!

anything else worth mentioning in this post? errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr hostels are a love hate relationship I miss having my own room quite a lot you never fully feel like you can relax here cause someone is always about, I mean that have single rooms in hostels but they are too damn pricy ... on the other hand it is cool being able to meet people from all walks of life and you never know you could end up meeting your best friend :).

sooo that's about it for this post TTFN! :)

it's Going to Happen

SO! ... I have currently been travelling for just over a week and i have seen some amazing things since i have been out here, and even if i had to end my trip now i would not regret it for the world.

First stop was Auckland, and what an amazing first stop it was... OK, so i may have treated it like a mini holiday but i was soo excited to be around the other side of the world, i wanted to start my trip in style!. we stayed in a 4/5 start hotel (i cant remember which it was) and it was fantastic! and after 24 hours on two planes the luxury of a comfy bed and a nice hot shower was just irresistible. We spent the first two days exploring Auckland and doing all the tourist type things like venturing up the sky tower, gambling a couple of dollars at the casino, visiting art galleries and museum and generally spending too much money.

After doing all the touristy stuff we found this amazing bar on the harbour front with those egg chairs which hang from the ceiling, this quickly became our favourite spot!

Our final day in Auckland we spent at the Big day Out festival which The Vaccines and My Chemical Romance were playing at, which was awesome... it was here that i experienced my first bit of NZ rain.

From Auckland we caught a flight to Christchurch where we would be staying for two nights in this amazing hostel that not long ago was home to a load of convicts, yes that's right, we were staying in a renovated prison which Cooley still had most of its original features.

Christchurch was a funny place to visit because even after a year on the effects of the earthquake a still completely full on. They have the 'Red zone' which is the main centre of the town and it is completely fenced off as they slowly try to recover from the devastating effects. We walked around the entire Red Zone and there was a very eerie feeling you get because it was so quiet, it was like a post apocalyptic town. You couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness because you could Tell that this dead city was once a thriving cool place to be.

We met up with a friend from back home in Cambridge and we went to a few bars and had a few drinks for Scotty's birthday, which turned out to be a pretty cool night even though the nightlife was lacking somewhat. Its quite a strange feeling seeing people you know from back home on the other side of the world, but also quite a comforting one.

After an enlightening few days in CH CH me and Scott said our goodbyes to our friend and got into our hire car with one destination in mind... Queenstown!

However before hitting QT we decided to use the hire car to our advantage and visit some natural wonders in New Zealand including Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo is the most Blue i have ever seen any lake/sea/river. it was simply amazing, i stood in awe for a while, it was visually stunning.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

Next was Mt Cook. this was amazing, filled with glaciers and ice burgs which you could watch and sunbathe in front of as it was searingly hot this day. We took one of the walks to Hooker Lake which was well worth the achy legs under the persistent sun.

We attempted to sleep in the car here one night, we managed it but it was fucking freezing and we left the next night unplanned and headed to Lake Wanaka to stay in a cosy Hostel.

Convinced i wouldn't see anything more beautiful than what i ad already seen, i was proven wrong when we got to Lake Wanaka. easily the most beautiful place i have seen so far, Its just a small town and it was full of teenagers enjoying the lake on the last day before they had to go back to school, you could tell it was a real holiday town.

From Wanaka we Made it to Queenstown.... but that's another story for another time.



'Warm California sun'

Just a quick update as I sit t LAX airport waiting to board my flight to Auckland.

So it seems like I've been travelling forever! Saying goodbye at Heathrow airport this morning, or whenever it was, ( time zones confuse me) feels like a lifetime ago!...I made the goodbyes short and sweet, not because I wanted to get rid of them but because I knew I would end up crying loads of they had dragged out, I welled up a bit but I managed to gain composure. As I have never flown on my larry before I couldn't stop shaking when going through airport security but the truth is I wasn't even that scared I think there was just a lot of emotion built up inside me and it came out in the form of shakes! lol.

the flight from Heathrow to LAX took approx. 10 hours 45 minuets but it was a good flight with clear skies pretty much all the way, we hit a rough patch which just had to be when they were serving the tea and coffee, the girl next to me lost half of hers in her lap, in the end she downed it before anymore went over board. the rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. I saw a lot of frozen wasteland as we flew over Greenland and Canada, what's all this nonsense about global warming! It was an awesome sight though.
Coming in to L.A was simply amazing, first of all the sunset was just magical. perfection. and watching it from 25000 feet was just inspiring. then as we started descending, LA was lit up and on my life the traffic was insane, and I could see that from 10/5000 feet, tips folks, never drive in LA it looks MENTAL!!!!. The landing was pretty smooth but LAX sure has a busy runway.

Now after reading up on connecting flight at LAX I was dreading it because all people kept saying was how it took like2-3 hours to clear customs, I was thinking great it's going to be a rush for my flight. BUT it was the polar opposite I had to wait no longer than 30 mins at each station and now I am sitting outside my departure gate waiting to board at 22:40 local time. I can also say I've been to L.A because I had to go curbside for 10 mins and go through security again.

one thing I have learnt so far on my travels is that I have to come back to LA and stay more that 5 hours, it looks like a fun place, well at night at least, I won't get to see it at day time unfortunately.

Signing off.... see you in Auckland!!!! x

so it wasn't so short after all lol.